“People are seeing that there’s a fundamental disconnect between what the electorate wants and what their representative is doing in parliament,” she said. “It’s not enough to look at what they do in the electorate — Tony Abbott was a volunteer at the local surf club. We think that it’s the MP’s voting record that they need to be judged on.” And how will these electorates fare at the next federal election? As retired independent politician Tony Windsor is fond of saying, “the world is run by the people who turn up”. All across the country, Australians who have never been part of a political party are turning up, and finding their voice.

Climate 200: inside the fight to control climate agenda in parliament